


The Stowaway

by Shinyunderwater



Series: Outrun the Sunset [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Egypt, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-30
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-19 14:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17603345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinyunderwater/pseuds/Shinyunderwater
Summary: The Doctor and co. crash into eleventh century Egypt and meet one of the Doctor's favorite scientists. The Doctor is quite happy with the sudden turn around in her recent string of abominable luck. But some of her companions are not so pleased. With a dam being built where no dam should be and fractures forming in team TARDIS it's up to the Doctor to find out what's really happening in Aswan before the floodwaters of history drag her under.





	1. Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is! Two days late. Anyway, you don't need to have read part one and two of this series to read this story. All the relevant information that carries forward into this story is rehashed in this chapter.
> 
> So writing this involved a lot of research, but if you see any errors please feel free to leave a comment addressing them. I am not a professional historian, and I make mistakes (dozens every day). Please enjoy.

The Doctor held tight onto the child in her arms until the girl started squirming. Then the Doctor released her. The Doctor tried to wipe the tears from her face before anyone could see the evidence of her powerful distress and just as powerful relief. The Doctor smiled at the child, at little Tallulah. “You stowed away.”

 

“I just wanted to see. My mum told me so many stories, about the Doctor, and the TARDIS,” a whimsical smile lit up Tally's face.

 

“You scared lots of people,” Yaz reprimanded.

 

“I'm sorry,” Tally said with false contrition.

 

“We need to get you back before your aunt goes mad,” Graham insisted. The reference to Tally's aunt sparked a brief flare of guilt and embarrassment in the Doctor. She felt like she should have remembered the name of Martha's niece, she was sure she'd been told at some point. Even as long ago as it all was the Doctor was ashamed for not remembering, for not making the connections and sparing herself a great deal of agony.

 

Tally sighed. The Doctor recognized the look in her eyes. It was so obvious now that this was Martha's child. Martha's adventurous spirit and Mickey's stubborn nature were both on full display. “But-” she began to protest.

 

Tally didn't get to finish because with a loud crash the TARDIS slammed into something, or somewhere or somewhen. The five of them fell to the ground. The Doctor was the first to recover, and she sprang up to administer her attentions to her ailing machinery. She had been rough with the TARDIS in her earlier distress, and now the repercussions were making themselves known to her. “Oh love, I'm so sorry.”

 

“Is she talking to the TARDIS,” Tally asked.

 

“Yeah, she does that,” Ryan said.

 

“What's outside?”

 

The Doctor was distracted by her injured TARDIS, and so she didn't process what Tallulah had said until she was already opening the door. “Don't!” The Doctor ran over to stop her a few seconds too late.

 

“Wow,” Tally whispered. Yaz, Ryan and Graham crowded behind them to see for themselves. They were on the banks of a wide river. Crocodiles hid in the reeds, waiting for foolish prey to amble near their jaws. In the distance a large pole boat was heading towards them. Tally started to step outside for a closer look, but the Doctor pulled her back in and closed the door.

 

“You're staying right here until I can get the TARDIS set to rights and then I'm taking you back to your parents,” the Doctor said. She could imagine how furious the Smith-Jones family would be once the Doctor arrived with their missing child. Mickey in particular the Doctor was sure would be livid.

 

“Where are we,” Yaz asked.

 

The Doctor scanned her monitor. “Banks of the Nile, eleventh century.” The Doctor felt a twinge of regret that they couldn't go outside.

 

“Egypt,” Tally shouted. “We learned about ancient Egypt in school! Let's go outside and look around!” She started to head back for the door again, but Yaz caught her by her shoulders and turned her around.

 

“I'm not letting you go anywhere where you might get hurt,” the Doctor said. “No way.”

 

“But that's not fair! I want to see!”

 

“No,” the Doctor said, wondering how it was that she could deter an army but still be ignored by an eigth-year-old child.

 

Tallulah scowled, and then she vanished, as though she had never been there. “Stop that right now! Tallulah I mean it! Tallulah!”

 

Yaz stepped forward. “Sweetheart it's dangerous out there. Please stay with us.”

 

Tallulah took off her perception filter to reveal that she was sitting on the control console now, far too close to important buttons for the Doctor's comfort. “Oi! Down from there!”

 

Tallulah hopped down. “Why can't I go out?”

 

“Because it's not safe,” Graham said.

 

“Egypt isn't safe? How come?”

 

“Because…” Graham looked to the Doctor, but she wasn't sure what to say. The truth was that she'd love to go out and explore eleventh century Egypt, but after almost getting Martha's daughter killed once she was terrified by the prospect of even the slightest risk to the child. She looked from Graham to Tallulah, at a loss. “Well there's crocodiles out there,” Graham finished.

 

“Okay, so let's not mess about with them.”

 

“There's those beetles,” Ryan said.

 

Yaz gave Ryan a funny look. “Beetles?”

 

“Yeah, like in the movies. They live in the pyramids and eat human flesh.”

 

“I don't think those are real,” Graham said.

 

“No, I saw them in the Mummy.”

 

“That's just a film. There's no such thing as beetles that eat human flesh, not living human flesh anyway. Well maybe out in space there is, after that turtle army I-”

 

“We don't have to go to the pyramids,” Tally said. “I just want to see the people. My mum said she met the most amazing people.”

 

The Doctor looked from Tallulah, to the door, to the ailing TARDIS engines. “I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take a quick look outside, if you stayed with me the whole time and didn't do any disappearing,” the Doctor said.

 

“Doc, I don’t think that's a good idea. It's one thing for us to go traipsing about the universe with you, we're all adults. But Tallulah is just a kid and doesn't understand the risks.”

 

“I understand!” Tally stamped her foot. “My mum told me she saw dangerous things.”

 

“Then why don't you want to stay inside where it's safe,” Yaz asked her.

 

“Because I want to see! The stories are just stories, and I want to see them for real.”

 

The Doctor thought about Martha and all the times she had smiled in wonderment at some new discovery, and all the times she had held back tears of grief. The Doctor never knew what was going to happen outside the doors of the TARDIS. There was always a risk.

 

“My mum says there's magic all around us all the time, but when she was in the TARDIS she could see it so much easier.”

 

The Doctor jolted. “Martha said that?”

 

“Uh-huh,” Tally said.

 

“That's what the ambassador said,” Yaz recalled. “There is magic all around us love, though it goes by many names. She said she heard it from her mother.”

 

All eyes were now on Tally. The Doctor did the calculations in her head. If ninety-eight years into the future the ambassador was a hundred and six then in two thousand nineteen she would have been eight. Tally was the right age. The Doctor made an impulsive decision. “Okay Tally. I'll show you around while the engines are resting.”

 

“Yes!” Tally jumped up and down in excitement, clapping her hands. “Thank you!”

 

Graham and Yaz were both objecting, but the Doctor ignored them and offered Tally her hand. “It's my pleasure,” she told the girl.

 

The Doctor led Tally out of the TARDIS with Ryan following close behind. Yaz sighed in annoyance, but came along. Graham was the last to accept her decision, but he came as well, making sure to shut the door behind them. “So how does that work then? How did the TARDIS key make you invisible?”

 

The Doctor answered. “The TARDIS has a low level perception filter on at all times, and any piece of the TARDIS has the same properties, including keys. I enhanced the signal on Martha's key so that anyone wearing it would also be concealed by the perception filter. But it won't make you invisible. People can still see you, but their minds will sort of slide over you, forgetting to register the information.” The Doctor looked down at Tally. “Why'd Martha give it to you?”

 

“She told me to use it if I was in danger.”

 

“Well you weren't in danger when you snuck onto the TARDIS,” Yaz pointed out. “You gave your aunt a frightful scare,” she said.

 

“Gave us all a frightful scare,” Graham said as the team came into the view of a group of women down by the lakeshore. They were doing laundry and chatting with one another.

 

Tally pulled her hand out of the Doctor's and ran ahead before anyone could stop her. “Hi!”

 

One of the women looked up. “Hello there.”

 

Tally tilted her head to the side, examining the woman. The Doctor didn't think there was anything to take particular note of in the woman's appearance. She had dark skin and coiled braids that reached down to her shoulder. She had a warm smile that she was eager to share with a strange little girl wearing strange clothes, but the Doctor didn't see why any of those things would make Tally look so confused. “You look like me.”

 

The woman laughed. “Well I'm a good deal older than you and a fair bit taller child.”

 

“In all the books and movies about Egypt the people never look like me, but you do.”

 

The Doctor stepped in before Tally could say too much. “My niece and I,” she said as she pulled Tally closer to her. “Are from another part of the caliphate,” the Doctor explained.

 

“And what brings you to Aswan?”

 

“We’re tourists,” the Doctor said.

 

“Ahh,” the woman said in a knowing voice.

 

“Do you get a lot of tourists,” Yaz asked in a voice that indicated she didn't think tourism had become a popular industry yet in the eleventh century. The Doctor could have told her humans had been traveling since they first looked down and saw their feet, but she waited to hear the woman's answer instead.

 

“Ever since construction started.”

 

“On the pyramids,” Ryan asked.

 

“What? Don't be silly. Look.” The woman pointed downriver, far into the distance. The Doctor squinted to get a better view of what appeared to be a partially constructed dam.

 

The Doctor frowned. “That isn't right.”

 

“You're not the first to say so. There are those that believe it is an obstruction of God's will to divert the water from where he intended it to go, but progress marches on. I say, if God did not intend man to build, why did He give man minds to understand complex mathematics and create great feats of engineering?”

 

“Don't you mean gods,” Ryan asked. “Doesn't Egypt have a bunch of gods, Ra, Osiris, Set and all the rest? I know that wasn't just from the movies,” Ryan insisted.

 

“This is the eleventh century,” the Doctor rushed to explain before the woman could be offended by their heresy. The Doctor had learned the hard way that locals didn't tend to respond well to hearsay. “Egypt is part of the Fatimid Caliphate,” the Doctor said.

 

“So they're Muslims,” Yaz said with a bit of excitement in her voice. “Like me.”

 

“And they look like us!” Tally said while tapping Ryan on the arm. “Awesome!”

 

“History's a whitewash,” the Doctor said, feeling a ping of nostalgia for when she had said those exact words to Bill. “But something is wrong here. That dam shouldn't be there.”

 

Graham sighed. “Let me guess. Aliens?”

 

“I'm not sure… But we should check it out just in case,” the Doctor said.

 

“Should we take Tally back to the TARDIS first,” Yaz asked. “We don't know what we're going to find over there. Better to be safe.”

 

“Naw, I'm fine.” Tally started running in the direction of the dam. The Doctor sprinted after her. “No fair racing! You've got longer legs,” Tally shouted. She didn't sound put out though. There was laughter in her voice.

 

The Doctor scooped the little girl up and felt a vivid flashback slam into her of chasing after Susan in the red grass of Gallifrey when she had been a younger man and looked much older. She put the girl on her back and ran along the banks of the Nile, thinking about how this was all that she had wanted all those centuries ago, to see the distant wonders of the universe and share them with a young bright mind. Everything had gone so wrong, over and over again. Yet here she was in the sun, by the water, as though it never had. For just a moment, she could pretend, and lose herself in the fantasy.


	2. Part Two

Ryan was almost out of breath by the time the Doctor stopped running at the edge of the construction site. Yaz and Ryan came to a stop next to him. Tally jumped down from the Doctor's back and started to move closer to the action, but the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back. “What are they doing,” Tally asked. “What's the wall for?”

 

“It's meant to regulate the flow of the Nile, so that the water reaches all the crops that need irrigation. A dam like this could prevent flooding and drought, stabilizing the agricultural output of the region.” Ryan tried to consolidate her words, which seemed quite positive, with her troubled expression.

 

“It's ugly,” Tally declared. “I like the river better without a wall in the middle of it.”

 

Ryan remembered something. “Doctor you mentioned flooding. Doesn't the Nile often destroy people's homes when it floods.”

 

“It does,” the Doctor said

 

“So this dam is good, right,” Yaz asked.

 

“Theoretically, but the infrastructure and technology for such an ambitious project doesn't exist yet. The whole idea was admitted to be impractical by the architect, Hasan Ibn al-Haytham, and the Caliph scrapped the whole thing. So how can they be building it right now,” the Doctor asked.

 

“Why does that name sound familiar,” Yaz asked. “Ibn Al-Haythem. I know I've heard it.”

 

The Doctor turned to Yaz with a look of excitement blooming on her face. Ryan knew that look well. They were all about to learn something. “As well you should! The man was a genius, a bona fide genius! He wrote a book on optic science that changed the field forever! No, more like he created the field from scratch! He was a mathematical prodigy, a philosopher, theologian and a physician.”

 

Ryan tried to pay attention as the Doctor continued to expound on the many virtues of the renowned mathematician, but he found his interest drawn to the work itself, to the drained section of the river where workers labored in the mud, protected from drowning by nothing more than handcrafted wooden walls. Ryan shivered. He didn't think he could ever go down there. He imagined the wood splintering and the tide rushing down on him, crushing him and filling his lungs with water.

 

“I wanna go down there.” Ryan jumped. Tally had followed him and was standing right next to him, looking at the inverted well, a hole full of air and earth surrounded by water.

 

“Did you use that thing again?”

 

Tallulah pulled her locket out of her pocket and showed it to him. “No. I'm just really good at being sneaky. Granddad says I'm like a cat.” She put the locket back in her pocket.

 

“What's the trick?”

 

“Not to be nervous. My mum says when you look like you know where you're going and doing what you're supposed to people don't question you. Well sometimes they do.”

 

“Then what?”

 

Tallulah smirked at him.

 

“Right,” he said. “Then you use the locket.”

 

“Uh-huh.”

 

“But it's a bit like cheating isn't it,” he asked.

 

Tallulah shrugged. “That depends.”

 

“On what?”

 

“Whose rules you're following.”

 

Ryan chuckled. “Okay, fair enough.” He took a step closer to the edge of the water. “Would you really go down there? Wouldn't you be a little afraid?” Ryan saw a group of men loading supplies onto a boat. He watched with curiosity, wondering how they intended to get everything down without breaking.

 

“Sure, but it's fun! I like to be afraid.”

 

Ryan gave the child a skeptical look. “You like to be afraid? Why would you like that?”

 

She shrugged. “Because in the end you're not afraid anymore. You're still alive, and the thing you thought was scary wasn't so bad after all. Sometimes after I watch a scary movie that my parents told me not to I get nightmares, but in the morning I'm fine!”

 

Ryan chuckled at her. “Wouldn't you rather not have nightmares at all,” he asked.

 

She looked around to make sure they were alone and then gestured with her finger for Ryan to come closer. He dropped to one knee to hear her response. “I know about the things out there. I know that there are aliens and monsters and stuff. But I'm going to use up all my fear, so when it's my turn to face them I won't be afraid. I'll be brave and a hero just like my parents. They'll be so proud.”

 

Ryan felt uneasy. “I'm sure your parents are already proud of you Tally.” He thought about his own father and how absent Aaron had been in his life. He didn't know anything about Tally's parents except that they were friends with the Doctor. He didn't think the Doctor would be friends with people who neglected their daughter, but he couldn't be sure that was the case. “Don’t they tell you?”

 

“Yeah,” Tally said to Ryan's relief. “They tell me all the time. But I want to give them a reason to be proud of me. I want to save the world like they did. Maybe we could do that today! Maybe there's aliens here now!”

 

Ryan shook his head. “You just escaped a bunch of aliens that wanted to lock you up and do experiments on you. Now you're hoping to run into more? Why,” he asked.

 

Tally dug a hole in the mud with the toe of her trainers, keeping her eyes down at the squelching earth. “I just want to be a part of the story. My mum, when she talks about the far away places, her eyes shine. And not all aliens are bad. There's good ones too that I'd like to meet. My Uncle Jack says he has lots of alien friends. But he can't tell me all the stories about them cause it hasn't happened yet and also my dad would beat him up.”

 

“Right,” Ryan said as though any of that had made sense to him. “I just think maybe you should be careful. Your mum's stories sound great, but she might have left out parts where she was in danger so you wouldn't be afraid.”

 

Tally seemed to lose interest in the conversation, which Ryan supposed was always a risk when talking to an eigth-year-old. He knew he hadn't been the most attentive student at that age. Which he realized now put him in the role of teacher, an idea which gave him no pleasure. Tally found the sky to be of more interest than Ryan's fumbled lesson. She shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand and turned in circles to scan the blue expanse. “Where do you think they parked their spaceship,” she asked.

 

“We still don't know that there even are any aliens here.” But Ryan didn't even believe himself, so he had no confidence in his ability to convince Tally. Based on his experiences he was certain there were aliens involved.

 

“Maybe the ship is buried in the mud!”

 

Ryan looked across the water at the deep hole on the river. “How would it get there?”

 

“I dunno, maybe it crashed. Maybe this wall is just a cover up so the aliens can get their ship back,” Tally shouted, all but vibrating with excitement. “What do you think?!”

 

Ryan thought the odds that the mystery would be solved on accident why a primary student with poor impulse control was a very long shot indeed. However, he acknowledged to himself that he'd seen several stranger things happen since he started traveling with the Doctor. “You there!” Ryan jumped at the sound of a loud voice. A heavy man with a large bushy beard ran over. Ryan put a protective arm around Tally. “Who are you?”

 

“We're-” Ryan began.

 

“Are you an alien,” Tally asked.

 

Ryan glared at her, but neither she nor the man seemed to notice. “I am Iraqi,” he conceded, either because he misunderstood her question or the TARDIS mistranslated it.

 

“No, I meant-”

 

This time Ryan cut her off. “I'm Ryan, and this is my sister Tallulah.” Ryan extended his hand for the stranger to shake.

 

“Peace be upon you,” the man said as he shook Ryan's hand. “I am Hasan Ibn al-Haytham. What are you doing here?”

 

“Oh!” Ryan recognized the name of the man the Doctor had just been and in all likelihood still was extolling the virtues of. “This is your project then. The Doctor is a big fan.”

 

“Who?”

 

Ryan pointed over to where the Doctor's dramatic hand movements indicated she was still lecturing Yaz and Graham. “That's her over there. She was just telling us all about what a genius you are. I'm sure she'd love to meet you,” Ryan told Hasan.

 

“Oh?” Hasan seemed to appreciate the compliment being paid to him. “Well I suppose I could spare a moment for her.”

 

“Doctor!” The Doctor whirled around at the sound of her name. “Come meet someone!”

 

The rest of the group ran over, and the Doctor's eyes widened when she got a good look at who Ryan had found. “It's you!”

 

“Hasan Ibn al-Haytham,” Hasan said. “Peace be upon you.” He smiled at Yaz and the Doctor and extended his hand to Graham.

 

“Wa Alaikum Salaam,” Yaz said.

 

“Uh yeah,” Graham said as he shook Hasan's hand. “What she said. Good to meet you.”

 

“I understand you have an interest in engineering,” Hasan said to the Doctor.

 

“Bit of an expert actually,” she replied.

 

“Oh?” Hasan frowned. “Did the Caliph send you to check up on me,” he asked, his friendly demeanor giving way to scepticism.

 

“Nope.” The Doctor reached into her coat and pulled out her psychic paper. “We're just tourists from Sicily. Hang on, we're in the early eleventh century, right?” The Doctor leaned over and scooped up a bit of mud with her pinky, which she then sniffed. “Okay yes, early, Sicily hasn't been conquered by Roger I yet, still part of the caliphate. We're Sicilian tourists, and when we heard about your amazing irrigation project we just had to come see it. It's incredible. Where did you get the idea for such an ambitious project?”

 

Hasan seemed a bit taken aback by the Doctor's odd behavior, but once again he was seduced by flattery. “Come with me. I'll show you the inspiration for my greatest triumph.”

 

The team’s reactions ranged from eagerness in the Doctor, weariness in Graham, curiosity in Yaz and smugness in Tally. She stood on her tiptoes and leaned in close to Ryan to whisper “aliens” at him. For his part Ryan was just glad to be getting away from the river and the disorienting hole in it. Tally took Ryan's hand as they followed Hasan towards a large tent. “I bet aliens told him how to build the thingy, and they're gonna use it to take over the world. But the Doctor will stop them.”

 

Ryan chuckled. “Yeah, she's good at that.”

 

Tally ran ahead and grabbed the Doctor's hand. The Doctor squeezed her hand in acknowledgement and then looked down and smiled at the child. Tally smiled back, a bright grin spread across her face, but when she looked away Ryan saw something happen to the Doctor's expression. A shadow fell over her features. Ryan looked to his grandfather to find out if Graham saw what he did and found that Graham was watching her too, his own face clouded and troubled. Tally's voice pulled Ryan's attention back to her. “I bet the aliens are huge, with purple skin, red eyes and sharp silver antlers. What do you think?”

 

The Doctor picked up Tally and placed the little girl on her back again. “I met a species once with bodies comprised of tentacles, full of gasses lighter than the atmosphere. They extended and contracted their tentacles to control their movement. They floated through the air grabbing birds and giant insects to swallow whole, and their digestive system was so slow it took days to digest their prey.”

 

“Wow. That's so cool.”

 

“I know, isn't it?”

 

Ryan laughed at the outlandish nature of their conversation, but when he looked back at Graham the man appeared more worried than before. Ryan felt a troubled sensation settle in his gut as the six of them entered the tent that contained Hasan's secrets.


	3. Part Three

Yaz felt a sense of familiarity wash over her as she observed Hasan's tent. The prayer rug reminded her of the ones they had at home, old and a bit faded, but without a doubt well loved and cared for. Hasan went to a stack of thick tomes and lifted a book that looked to be the approximate size and weight of an overdue baby. He gave the book a loving pat. “It's all in here. The greatest text on theoretical mathematics ever written.”

 

The Doctor grabbed for the book with equal measures of eager anticipation and gentle care. Hasan chuckled as he handed it over to her. “Be careful. Such a volume is worth its weight in gold to a mind keen enough to apply its theories to practical engineering.”

 

“Where did you get it,” Graham asked.

 

“Back home in Basra. One day when I was studying this text I was struck by a revelation from God himself. God in his wisdom ordered the world according to a system of his own design, and he left us the blueprints to all of his creation within the field of mathematics.”

 

Yaz wondered if this revelation had been given by an extraterrestrial, perhaps one masquerading as a messenger of God. “Did an angel tell you this,” she asked Hasan.

 

“No. It was a flash of divine inspiration. God did not make me a polymath just so I might sit in libraries and study theory. He made me a genius so that I would create great works in his name. I will regulate the Nile, bringing peace and prosperity to the followers of the Prophet from now until the end of time.”

 

The Doctor looked up from the book. “This is a contemporary text. There's nothing in here that's out of place for this century. May I see your designs for the dam,” she asked Hasan.

 

Hasan hesitated. “That would be unwise.”

 

Yaz's suspicions were piqued. “Why's that?”

 

Hasan frowned at her. “Are you really just tourists here to see a great modern marvel?”

 

“Why wouldn't we be,” Yaz asked.

 

“Perhaps the Caliph sent you here to gather information about my designs and report back to him. Perhaps you're spies.”

 

“Why would a bunch of spies be wandering around with a little kid,” Graham asked.

 

“Not very sneaky, is it,” Ryan asked.

 

“Actually,” Tally said. “I'm very-” The Doctor turned her head to give the girl on her back a warning look. “Not a spy,” Tally finished.

 

“Why would the Caliph even want to spy on you,” Yaz asked. “Don't you work for him?”

 

“I do,” Hasan confessed. “But our arrangement is not as straightforward as it was first presented to me to be. His behavior of late has been-” Hasan stopped himself.

 

“What is it,” the Doctor asked.

 

“I don't know you,” Hasan said. “Forgive me, but I believe this conversation must end.”

 

“But-” the Doctor began.

 

“I must resume my work. I hope you enjoy your stay in Aswan.” Hasan gestured to the tent flap in a clear signal for them to leave.

 

Yaz could tell the Doctor was put out when they left the tent. “It doesn't make sense.”

 

“The book,” Graham asked as the Doctor set their stowaway down and began pacing.

 

“I've read that book. It was published in this time period. It's reasonable that Hasan would have read it and that it would have inspired him to make new strides in the field of hydraulic engineering. He is a genius.”

 

“So then maybe there isn't a problem here after all,” Ryan said. “Everything's fine.”

 

“Except history says that this project was abandoned,” the Doctor replied. “Why?”

 

“Might be something mundane,” Graham said. “Maybe it went over budget.”

 

Yaz thought about their conversation, short as it had been, with Hasan. “He said the Caliph has been acting strange,” she said.

 

“Are we going to meet a pharaoh,” Tally asked, overcome with excitement.

 

“No pharaohs in this period of history Tally, sorry,” the Doctor said. “Anyway the Caliph will be in Cairo, which is about nine hundred kilometers from here. That's no easy journey.”

 

“Right,” Graham said. “So it's obvious what we need to do. We need to take Tally home-”

 

“What?! That's not fair! I want to meet the king of Egypt,” Tally shouted. She crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

 

“Caliph,” the Doctor corrected.

 

“Doc,” Graham said. “We need to take her back to her parents where she'll be safe.”

 

“I'm safe with the Doctor,” Tally insisted.

 

Yaz looked at the Doctor, who was keeping her eyes on the river as they walked back the way they had come. She didn't seem to be paying any attention to what Graham was saying, as if she didn't want to hear the words she knew were true. Yaz didn't know why the Doctor was being so irresponsible. She had been careful in Norway to try to keep Hannah as far from harm's way as possible. Now all of a sudden her caution was gone. It was all the stranger considering how a horrific tragedy had been avoided by the thinnest of margins a few hours ago. “Doctor your friend must be worried about her daughter.”

 

“But we're time traveling,” Tally objected.

 

“That's true,” the Doctor said. “We can take her home right after we left the park regardless of when we leave here. She'll be home before her aunt and cousin will.”

 

“Do you think your friend would be alright with you keeping her daughter in the eleventh century for this long,” Graham asked.

 

The Doctor shrugged. “I bet Martha would love Aswan. I don't know why I never brought her here. All those times we went to the moon, you would think I'd find the time to show her Egypt. I guess I never thought about it. Or maybe I was planning to later.”

 

“Doctor,” Ryan said. “I don't think that's Graham's point. She is just a kid.”

 

The Doctor scoffed. “You're all kids to me.”

 

Yaz frowned. She didn't like the idea of the Doctor seeing her as a kid. “What?”

 

“I'm thousands of years old. You're all children in my eyes. Anyway,” The Doctor took hold of Tally's hand again. “It won't hurt to show Tally Aswan. It's beautiful. In-”

 

“I don't care how beautiful it is!” Yaz stumbled and froze. She turned to look at Graham with wide eyes. The last time she'd seen him so angry was on Ranskoor Av Kolos. He glared at the Doctor, who at last took her eyes away from the Nile and looked at him. Ryan was watching too, as stunned as they were, and Tally was holding tight onto the Doctor's hand and burrowing into her side. “I love traveling with you Doc. It is brilliant. But not everything we've seen has been beautiful. Some of the things we saw were cruel or deadly.”

 

“I never meant to take you anywhere dangerous. Sometimes things just happen-”

 

“I know! And what if something were to just happen now? What would you tell your friend? Would you tell her how beautiful Egypt is? Is that what you would say?”

 

“I've traveled with children before. I used to bring my granddaughter on trips all over-”

 

“And where is she?”

 

Graham's question fell over all of them like a lead blanket. The sunlight went from warm and uplifting to scorching and overpowering while the distant sound of lapping water went from soothing white noise to as grating as nails on a chalkboard. The environment shifted to mirror their turmoil, and when Yaz looked at the Doctor's face she expected to hear a clap of thunder, because a storm was brewing there. “She's not here,” the Doctor whispered in an almost poisonous voice.

 

“And she shouldn't be either.” Graham pointed at Tallulah. “She should be with her parents back home. She should be safe.”

 

“Um guys,” Ryan said. From the looks of them neither Graham nor the Doctor heard him, and for her own part Yaz couldn't tear her eyes away from their dispute.

 

“It's not your decision,” the Doctor said.

 

“Guys,” Ryan said.

 

“It's not either of ours decision! It's her parents’ decision! But you didn't ask for her parents’ permission because you know no responsible parent would ever let their-”

 

“Guys!”

 

At last they all turned to see what Ryan thought was so important. Following his gaze Yaz gasped when she saw a team of horses dragging away a wooden box, a blue wooden police box. A man was leading the team of horses away from the construction site towards what Yaz guessed was the direction of Aswan. “But…” she spluttered.

 

“Not again,” the Doctor said.

 

“I thought it had a perception filter,” Ryan said. “How come they could see it?”

 

“I told you-”

 

“Not now Graham!” The Doctor ran towards the men leading the horses. Yaz grabbed Tally and pulled her towards herself to keep the child from following. Ryan and Graham rushed after the Doctor. “Excuse me,” she yelled. “Yes, pardon me, you can't take that!”

 

The man stopped and eyed the Doctor with a weary indignant look. “And why is that?”

 

The Doctor held up her psychic paper. “We work for the Caliph. That box belongs to the government,” she lied. “It's not supposed to be moved. So if you could just leave it here we'll put it back where it belongs, thanks.”

 

The man examined the paper. “This doesn't say you work for the Caliph,” he said.

 

“What?” The Doctor flipped the wallet around to read what it said. “Oh, I… Wrong ID. We-”

 

“Who are you people,” the man asked.

 

Yaz felt a nervousness settle in her gut, and she took a few steps back to distance herself from her friends, pulling Tally along with her to the riverbank. In most situations Yaz would be at her friends’ sides, but she couldn't let the child fall into harm's way. So she watched with a sense of helplessness as her friends were interrogated. “What I meant to say was that we're ambassadors from Rome, and that box is a gift for the Caliph, so if you could just leave that right where it is, thank you.”

 

The man snatched the psychic paper out of the Doctor's hands. “This says you're an ancient creature from another world. It says you confer with demons and other uncleans.”

 

Yaz watched Ryan whisper in the Doctor's ear. “Why would you make it say that?!”

 

“I didn't,” she hissed back.

 

“You had better come with me,” the man declared. “Are they with you?” He pointed an accusing finger at Yaz and Tally. Yaz shook her head, feeling guilty even though she knew she was just trying to protect a kid.

 

“No,” the Doctor said. “We've never seen them before. No idea who they are.”

 

“Right, you had better follow me. The Caliph will want to see you,” the man informed them.

 

“You're taking us to Cairo?” The Doctor asked in a tone of disbelief. Yaz could only imagine how long such a trip might take without the benefit of a TARDIS. The Doctor wasn't the most patient person Yaz had ever met and she was sure the Doctor would go mental.

 

“No. You're in luck. The Caliph has graced the city of Aswan with a visit. I will take you there to explain yourselves to him.”

 

“Oh, well alright,” the Doctor said.

 

“Is that alright,” Graham asked. “That doesn't seem alright to me at all. Are we prisoners?”

 

“Yes,” their captor said.

 

“See Graham, if you hadn't asked then we could have pretended we were just guests.”

 

“Nice going Granddad,” Ryan teased.

 

“Oh, well of course this is all my fault.”

 

“Follow me,” the man ordered. “Do not try to escape, or you will be hunted down.”

 

“Why would we try to escape? I'm excited about meeting the Caliph. Lead on.”

 

The captor gave the Doctor a puzzled expression, but he resumed his path with the Doctor, Graham and Ryan following close behind him. Yaz looked down at Tally and then over to her friends. “Does this happen very often,” Tally asked her.

 

“No. Well once or twice. Or a few times.”

 

Tally started walking back towards the construction site. “My dad got arrested a bunch of times once, but that was because of his friend Jackie. He forgave her though and mum and dad named me after her.”

 

A million thoughts were competing for attention in Yaz's head. Her distress clouded her thinking so that she couldn't focus on any one area for too long. “I thought your name was Tallulah,” she said just to have something to say. She looked into the distance where she could still see her friends getting further and further away.

 

“I have a middle name too.”

 

“Right.” Yaz realized that Tally was also getting further away and ran to catch up with her. “Where are you going,” she asked.

 

“To see the genius man,” she said as though it were the obvious course of action.

 

“Why are we doing that?” It occurred to Yaz that she should be in charge. She should tell Tally to stop and make her aware of the seriousness of their situation. But Yaz didn't really see how having a panicking child to care for would improve any aspect of their current predicament. As it was, there wasn't anywhere else nearby for them to go anyway.

 

“Because he's a genius. The Doctor said he was a genius, and if the Doctor thinks someone is smart they must be really, really smart, yeah?” Tally stopped to peer into the reeds at an elegant bird, as if this were still some sort of pleasant vacation.

 

“Fair enough. Take my hand though, I don't want anything to happen to you.”

 

Tally took her hand without complaint. “How come you act like you don't know my mum?”

 

Yaz, already awash in confusion as to why the Doctor's psychic paper had malfunctioned, how someone had been able to steal the TARDIS and what to do about her captured friends was well and truly thrown by such an odd question. “I don't know her.”

 

“Yes you do. I didn't recognize you at first, but you're the woman from the picture.”

 

“What picture?”

 

“The picture from my mum and dad's honeymoon, when they went snorkeling.”

 

Yaz gaped at her. Assuming Tally's parents had gotten married before she was born that honeymoon would have been around a decade ago. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Nevermind. Maybe it hasn't happened yet.”


	4. Part Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like this series needs a new title. Can't wait for 2020 is kind of lame. If you have any suggestions leave them in the comments. Thanks for reading this far!

By the time they arrived at Aswan Graham was dirty, exhausted and dehydrated. His feet felt like they were full of nails. His throat felt like the inside was coated with a thick layer of desert dust. They had made very few stops for rest or water along the way, and each time their respite had been cut short by their harsh captor, who refused to tell them his name or more details about their situation. Ryan put a hand on his shoulder. “You alright Gramps?”

 

“Yeah. You?”

 

Ryan nodded. “At least the Doctor looks fine.”

 

The Doctor looked more than fine. She was in high spirits indeed. There was a pep in her step Graham found equal parts confounding and annoying. “Yeah, she's well pleased.”

 

“You're not still angry with her are you?”

 

“Yeah, I am a bit.”

 

“We've been in situations like this before and it all worked out. I didn't enjoy that hike through the desert either, but she didn't mean for us to get captured,” Ryan defended her.

 

Graham shook his head. “That's not why I'm angry with her.” Graham looked at the Doctor, who appeared to be examining architecture and oblivious to their conversation. “She isn't acting like herself Ryan. She hasn't been since New Year's, but I didn't notice at first.”

 

Ryan frowned. He looked at the Doctor as well, but Graham could tell he wasn't seeing what Graham had picked up on. “Well what is acting like herself for the Doctor anyway?”

 

Graham had to admit to himself that Ryan made a fair point. They'd known the Doctor for just over a year, depending on how one counted the days. They'd hop into the TARDIS for a few days or weeks of adventure and then return home a few hours after they had left. In the normal timeline Grace had died a couple of months ago, but Graham knew it had been much longer than that for the four of them. The problem was that it was difficult to keep track of time when hanging out with a time traveler. Regardless, their association with the Doctor hadn't been long enough to make him an expert on her personality. But they did spend a lot of time together, and Graham was sure he wasn't just imagining things when he picked up on changes in her behavior.

 

“Granddad? You alright?”

 

“I think she's keeping secrets from us Ryan.”

 

Ryan looked uncomfortable at that proclamation. “Well we don't tell her everything about us either, do we?”

 

“Except we sort of do. Think about this. What species is the Doctor Ryan, do we know?”

 

Ryan considered the question. Graham kept his eye on the Doctor in the meanwhile, watching the way her face lit up everytime she caught sight of a unique piece of architecture. She was brilliant, and Graham did love traveling with her. He credited her with helping him mend his relationship with his grandson and recover from the paralyzing grief he'd been drowning in. But all the same he had questions. “I guess we don't.”

 

“Those aliens, the ones at the theme park, they were terrified of her,” Graham said.

 

“Yeah, but that's good. They were monsters.”

 

“Well how about this.” Graham took a deep breath as he prepared to articulate the thought he'd been trying to push away for weeks. “On New Year's, when your dad was attacked by that thing, that Dalek creature-”

 

“Here we are.” Graham fell silent as their captor brought them to a halt in front of a gorgeous ornate building. “Now you will explain who you are and what this strange mystic device you have brought to our land is before Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, ruler of the Fatimid Caliphate, chosen successor to the Prophet Muhammad by God himself-”

 

“Is it me,” Ryan interrupted “Or are there a lot of divinely appointed rulers? Seems like every time a guy takes over he says he was chosen by God. Is anyone checking on this or are we just taking their word,” he asked.

 

The Doctor snickered, but Graham could tell that their captor wasn't amused. “How dare you question the Caliph? He will have your head struck from your shoulders!”

 

“What is it with you,” Graham asked. “Every ruler you meet either wants to kill you or seduce you. And you haven't even met this one yet Ryan.” Graham shook his head.

 

“Don't worry Ryan,” the Doctor said. “I have the exact same problem. A rainforest hit on me one time. She was beautiful,” she said.

 

Graham stared at the Doctor to try and discern if she was joking as they and the TARDIS were dragged into what looked like a throne room. Seated on an ornate cushion adorned in rich robes sat a man who looked a few years too long to be a fearsome ruler of a continent-spanning empire. The TARDIS was put back into an upright position by a pair of guards as the man who had found it stepped forward. “This strange device was found on the banks of the Nile near your dam. This woman claims to own it. She is a demon, from a distant world of fire and destruction.”

 

The Caliph scowled. “Then why did you bring her here, into my holy presence,” he demanded in a voice that betrayed his youth.

 

“You said that any suspicious activity near the construction site were to be brought to-”

 

“Who are you,” the Caliph demanded, staring into the Doctor's eyes. “Are you a demon?”

 

Graham expected her to deny the claims, as she had denied being a witch to King James, but while Graham had been watching the Caliph he had missed the darkness falling across the Doctor's countenance. “I have been called that, yes, by many. I have been called a demon and an angel. I have been deemed a saint and condemned as a false prophet. If you would take me for a demon bent on your destruction I am more than capable of playing that role. But why would you wish for such a thing,” she asked.

 

“Should I have them executed,” the Caliph’s servant asked with the demeanor of one for whom executions, through oversaturation, have become an unremarkable event.

 

“Leave us.” The guards and servants exchanged looks of confusion as each seemed to hope someone else would raise their collective concerns. “Go!” The room emptied as men scattered to obey. Once quiet had filled the empty space the Caliph looked them up and down, his interest focused most of all on the Doctor. “So then, you have come at last. You have adopted a strange form, but I suppose that is a test.”

 

The Doctor looked at Graham and Ryan, her puzzlement apparent. Graham sent her a look which he hoped communicated his equal bewilderment and desire for her to play along with whatever assumption the Caliph had which was delaying their execution.

 

“My father told me you would come. I was but eleven at the time, a boy. But on that day I was forced to become a man. My father died, passing on to me the position of Caliph.”

 

Graham raised a brow. An eleven-year-old ruler seemed like an awful idea to him. Tally was only a few years younger, and the thought of her in charge of a country made him shudder. “I'm sorry for your loss,” the Doctor said. Graham was amused by how she had run through such a wide gamut of responses to the Caliph. She had begun with eagerness, switched to hostility, then puzzlement and at last sympathy. Graham thought it a wonder she didn't get whiplash.

 

“My father told me that I would be tested, and so I have been. Many have challenged my rule. They say I am a tyrant. They accuse me of breaking from the peaceful traditions of my predecessors. They do not understand.”

 

“Understand what exactly,” the Doctor asked.

 

“That I have been chosen. God chose me, of all my sacred lineage, to be the one that will cleanse the Earth. I will wash away all sin from this land!” The Caliph got to his feet and began to pace the room. “I have tried to wash away the sin with blood, but blood comes from man and cannot be holy. But now at last I have discovered the secret. The world must be cleansed with water! Once I have control of the tides of the Nile I will be able to wash away sin from any city that dares to oppose me! I will be unstoppable!” He looked up at the ceiling and smiled before returning his gaze to the Doctor. “Have you come to tell me which city God wants me to purge first?”

 

Graham's jaw dropped. “No! You're mental!”

 

“Oi! Granddad, maybe don't insult the man.”

 

The Doctor looked down at the floor and sighed. “Of course this is it. Of course this is the reason. This dam, it could save so many lives from hunger and disaster, but it has to be destroyed because of one selfish dictator with delusions of grandeur. This is why history says the project was abandoned.”

 

The Caliph scowled. “Destroyed? No, the dam will not be destroyed. It will be a monument to my rule that will stand tall and proud for centuries to come,” he said.

 

“It could have been! That's exactly what could have happened! You could have used your wealth and Hasan's genius to bring peace and prosperity to this region! But you're so obsessed with power that you don't care about anything else! You humans and your pathetic obsession with subjugation!”

 

Graham felt a chill of fear spread down his spine. He didn't know which was more frightening, the reddening face of the powerful tyrant, no doubt getting ready to call his guards in and have all three of them beheaded, or the casual way the Doctor dismissed humanity, as if they were pests.

 

“You are not messengers,” the Caliph said.

 

“Actually, I am,” the Doctor said. “I have a crucial message for you, so listen well. You aren't going to use the work of one of the greatest minds to ever grace humanity to commit wholesale slaughter. I won't let you.”

 

The Caliph paused, and Graham held his breath to see if he would respond as the aliens had, and bend to her will. “Guards! Kill these intruders at once!” So that would be a no then. Graham looked around for something, anything they could use to defend themselves. The Doctor grabbed his and Ryan's hands and sprinted for the TARDIS.

 

“But the engines don't work,” Ryan yelled.

 

“I know!”

 

“So how are we going to escape?!”

 

The Doctor threw open the doors and shoved them inside. She followed and then slammed the doors shut, leaning against them with her eyes screwed shut, deep in thought. The sound of someone pounding on the door startled the Doctor, and she backed up. “Doc, will those doors hold,” Graham asked her.

 

“Of course,” she said in a dismissive tone as she walked over to the control console.

 

“How are we going to get out of here,” Ryan asked. “We can't just stay here forever.”

 

“Theoretically, we could. But I'd have the engines repaired long before then. No, our real concern should be if I'll have them repaired in time to stop the Caliph from murdering thousands, possibly millions of people,” the Doctor told Graham and Ryan.

 

“Okay,” Graham said. “Well Yaz and Tally are out there, on the river, so might want to get a move on with that.” Graham tried to keep the irritation out of his voice, but he felt the anger rising up in him again. Under different circumstances this would be just another TARDIS adventure, and he would have complete confidence in the Doctor and her ability to save them. However this wasn't just another adventure. They had their stowaway to contend with, an innocent bystander whose welfare they were responsible for.

 

The Doctor knelt down and starting fiddling with the machinery. “I could use a spare set of hands. It's too bad River isn't here.”

 

“Who's River,” Graham asked more to stop himself from making a cutting comment than genuine curiosity. “Someone you used to travel with?” Graham wondered how many there had been, and for the first time he wondered what had happened to them.

 

“Sort of, she was my wife. I guess she still is my wife. She died, but we run into each other from time to time now and again.”

 

“You run into your dead wife,” Ryan asked.

 

“Yeah, pass me that wrench.” She pointed to a tool at the other side of the room.

 

Graham headed for the wrench and then jumped as he heard banging on the doors and loud shouting. He sighed. Even if they were safe in the TARDIS he sensed they were in for a long and stressful confinement.


	5. Part Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a fairly long conversation about religion in this chapter, so if that kind of thing bugs you I'll leave a TL;DR at the end.

Yaz debated with herself whether to leave Tally outside the tent where she could get into all manner of trouble unsupervised, or to take her into the tent, where she would be vulnerable if the conversation took a sour turn. She wished the Doctor was there to tell her what to do. Yaz shook her head. She had spent a lot of time dreaming about being in charge one day. The day might have come a little early, about a thousand years early, but now that it had arrived she would have to rise to the occasion. “Tally, put your locket on.”

 

Tally obeyed. Yaz blinked, still not used to how Tally went from the center of Yaz's view to impossible to notice in an instant. It made Yaz a bit queasy. Yaz looked for something to knock on and settled on one of the support poles. She waited for Hasan to come outside, and when he did he gave her a perplexed look. “You again? What are you doing here, and where have your relatives gone?”

 

“We need to talk,” Yaz said. “It's important.”

 

“I am sorry, but this is most inappropriate, and furthermore I have work to complete.”

 

Yaz followed Hasan back into his tent, refusing to be deterred. “You said that the Caliph had been acting strange. Well, now my friends have all been arrested, and I don't know why.” Yaz looked around the tent, this time ignoring the prayer rugs and beautiful artwork to focus on the books and designs that were scattered about. She was certain there was some clue present that could give Yaz a hint as to what was really going on in Aswan. She was just as certain that if the Doctor were here she would pick it up in a moment. But since the Doctor was absent Yaz would have to make the deductions in her stead. “I think you know something.”

 

“I know many things young lady.” Hasan ran his fingers through his beard. Yaz recalled a course she'd taken as part of her police training about body language. To her it looked like Hasan was exhibiting a nervous tic.

 

“You know something about the Caliph.”

 

“Who are you to question the Caliph? What sort of good Muslim woman are you,” he asked Yaz. “You should go home, and pray that your friends are released soon.”

 

“I'm the sort of good Muslim woman who doesn't accept things just because they're told to me. I ask questions. Isn't that what you do as well? Isn't that what you said God asked you to do? To use your genius mind to make discoveries that will improve the lives of his followers? Well God gave me a good mind too. I may not be a polymath or able to design irrigation systems, but I am good at deduction, and I know a little about people.”

 

Hasan looked away from her as if he were ashamed. “I am a student of human behavior as well,” he said. “Bask in Basra I used to walk the streets and look at all the people going to and fro, living their lives. I have been to many places, and everywhere I go I see the same sorts of people. Students arguing about their lessons with the ignorance and confidence of youth. Mothers holding their children's hands as they introduce them to the big bright world. Deep in our bones we are all the same, whether we be Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, what have you.”

 

“Yes,” Yaz agreed. “I know.”

 

“For generations the Caliphs of the Fatimid Caliphate have been benevolent rulers to all of their subjects, Muslim or not. So long as everybody paid their taxes there was peace.”

 

“Until something changed,” Yaz suggested.

 

“I was delighted to be invited here. I thought with the resources being offered to me I could create something that would become a part of history. My name would live on through the centuries. Perhaps that was only vanity.”

 

Yaz frowned as she struggled to put the pieces together of Hasan's disconnected thoughts. There had to be a central theme, scattered as it was throughout his various musings. “Hasan, if the Caliph is planning something dangerous, if people are at risk, then you have an obligation to prevent his plans from happening. Whoever kills one person, it’s as if he's killed all mankind, and whoever saves one person, it's as if he's saved all mankind. That's what it says in the Qur'an Hasan. Please tell me what the Caliph is planning to do. I can help you,” Yaz said.

 

Hasan sighed and sat down. “Those are the holy words,” he agreed. “And we are not the only ones who say so. It is also written-”

 

“In the Talmud,” she said. She remembered the Imam at the Mosque telling them about the sanctity of life using those words. She had thought they sounded good, and the phrases had stuck in her head. Then one night her dad had made them all watch Schindler's List (Sonya hated it because it was in black and white) and she had heard one of the characters say something with almost the exact same phrasing. Her mother had told her that truth and virtue could be found in all faiths. That had stayed with Yaz ever since. Yaz remembered what Hasan had said earlier in their conversation. “Deep in our bones we are all the same. My friends aren't Muslims Hasan, I don't even know if they all believe on God. What I do know is they're good people, and they don't deserve to be persecuted. Please, help us,” she asked.

 

Hasan closed his eyes and tilted his head up towards the ceiling. For a brief moment the entire tent was silent and still. Yaz could almost believe they were frozen inside of a single second, part of some sort of temporal phenomenon that the Doctor would have been able to explain. Then the illusion was shattered when a pile of books and scrolls went tumbling off a shelf. Yaz and Hasan jumped. Yaz looked at Tally, standing under the shelf with wide eyes, holding a large document in her hand. “Oops… sorry.”

 

“What on Earth?! How did you get in here?”

 

“I came in with her, you just didn't see me.”

 

Hasan turned to Yaz, seeming to expect some sort of explanation. Yaz instead focused on Tally. “What are you doing?”

 

“I was looking for the designs for the dam, but I don't know what they would look like.”

 

“So you are spies,” Hasan shouted with equal parts vindication and hurt. “You're not here to help me! You're here to steal my work!”

 

“No,” Yaz said with rising frustration. She clenched her hands into fists and dropped them against her legs with a painful thump.

 

“Yes, you are. I should report you to the Caliph and have you both arrested!”

 

Yaz tried to wrangle her agitation and keep a calm demeanor. It was becoming more and more difficult not to lose her temper, but that was another thing she had learned in her police training. It was her job to deescalate conflict, not escalate it. “I don't think you really believe that. I think you just want to. I think you're hoping that we're disingenuous, because that would give you an excuse to do nothing about the situation at hand and carry on as you always have. You're choosing to be ignorant of the danger because you don't want to face it. But things don't stop existing just because you close your eyes,” she said.

 

Hasan walked over to Tally, and for a moment of panic Yaz worried he might hit her or something. However he put out his hand for the paper she held, and she surrendered it without complaint. “Who are you, really?”

 

Yaz started to reply. “We-”

 

Hasan raised a hand to indicate he wanted Yaz to be quiet. He kept his eyes on Tally all the while. “Adults are much better liars than children, don't you think,” he asked her.

 

“They have more practice,” Tally suggested.

 

“Tell me little girl, and tell me true, who are you and why have you come to Aswan?”

 

Yaz tried to communicate to Tally with her eyes the importance of discretion, but Tally was looking at Hasan, and Yaz didn't think she could see her. Tally dropped her eyes to her futball jersey and then a smile started to spread across her face. It made Yaz more nervous than ever. “My name is Tallulah Jacqueline Smith-Jones. I'm from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the year 2019, and I stowed away on a time machine to get here.” She stuck out her hand. “It's nice to meet you sir.”

 

Yaz smacked her forehead with her palm and lowered her face in despair. She couldn't imagine how this interaction might have played out any worse for them. That was when, to Yaz's amazement, Hasan began to laugh. Large enthusiastic laughs sprung from his belly and filled the tent. “I cannot touch you child, but I pay you respect.” He placed his hand over his chest. “Now,” he turned to Yaz with a smile on his lips and a twinkling in his eyes. “I will tell you what I know.”

 

Yaz's jaw dropped. “You believe her?”

 

“Of course I do. Who would tell such a ridiculous lie? You are not from any land I have ever been to. That much is certain.”

 

Yaz rubbed the back of her neck. “How did you know,” she asked.

 

“Your strange clothes, the fact that you arrived here without a boat, horse, camel or cart, the oddness of your behavior, and-”

 

“Okay. I need to work on being a more inconspicuous time-traveler, got it,” Yaz said.

 

“Come with me. I will take you down to the construction site,” Hasan said before he grabbed a scroll and began to exit the tent.

 

“What- You mean the bottom of the river?”

 

“Yes!” Tally clapped her hands in delight.

 

“Tally, you are not going into a pit surrounded by water kept back by nothing more than a few flimsy strips of wood. Not happening.”

 

Tally disappeared.

 

“Oh- come on! That's not fair! Tally, become visible right now. Tally? Tally!” Yaz almost stomped her foot, but managed to restrain herself by remembering she wasn't the child.

 

Hasan poked his head into the tent. “Are you coming or not,” he asked her.

 

Yaz sighed. “Yes, I am.”

 

“Where did the girl go,” Hasan asked as they made their way over to the bank of the Nile.

 

“I'm right here.” Tally visualized right next to Yaz and took her hand. She beamed at Yaz.

 

“I'm quite cross with you,” Yaz said.

 

“No you're not.”

 

“I am,” Yaz insisted.

 

Hasan led them to a boat and instructed them to wait while he went to procure rowers. “Are you scared,” Tally asked. Yaz looked at the water, rushing past the wooden barricade on its way to the Mediterranean Sea.

 

“I want you to stay up here,” Yaz said.

 

“No way,” Tally said. “I'm going with you.”

 

“I want you to be safe,” Yaz explained.

 

Tally squeezed Yaz's hand. “I will be safe with you,” she said. “You'll take care of me.”

 

Yaz wasn't sure that she wanted that kind of responsibility, and she knew she hadn't signed up for it. But she also knew Tallulah would just vanish and follow them if she refused to take her, so Yaz accepted that she had no good options. “Your mum must have been daft to give you that locket,” Yaz said.

 

“Oi! My mum's brilliant I'll have you know.”

 

Yaz rolled her eyes, but she couldn't keep herself from smiling. She felt the same way about her own mother. Hasan returned, and soon they were sailing out into the middle of the river. Yaz kept a tight arm around Tally and scanned the water for crocodiles and hippos. “It is beautiful,” she found herself admitting as a Lungfish taller than her swam past the boat. “It's so big and… I dunno.”

 

Yaz felt a squeezing sensation in her heart as she looked at the water. It didn't feel like just a river anymore, it felt alive. This was the Nile River, the great artery of Egypt, carrying water through the region like blood throughout a body. This river had sustained one of history's greatest civilizations for centuries. Floating on the water she felt connected to something so much larger than herself. She felt like she was part of a profound and ancient heritage. She remembered what Tally had said when they'd first arrived. The people who lived here looked more like Yaz, Tally and Ryan than they did like Graham and the Doctor. These people were HER people, and not only that, but they were the leaders, the scientists, the great thinkers of the age. There was no colonial government here to divide up the land or strip them of their culture. Yaz hugged Tally closer and smiled, as she closed her eyes and inhaled the scent of the Nile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TL;DR
> 
> Yaz convinces Hasan to trust them and he agrees to take them to the construction sight and tell them everything he knows.


	6. Part Six

Ryan sat leaning against the console, passing tools to the Doctor whenever she asked for them and listening to the Caliph's men howl threats at them. They had already tried to burn the TARDIS down without success, and were now attempting to hack it apart with axes. Ryan sighed. This trip wasn't in contention for the top ten locales list, that was for certain. Ryan looked around for something to catch his attention. He wished Graham was still in the control room, but his grandfather had wandered off to the kitchen and failed to return. Ryan supposed that was for the best. The last thing Ryan wanted was to end up on the middle of a shouting match between his grandfather and one of their best mates. The tension between the Doctor and Graham was still high, and Ryan had no idea how to fix it. He knew what his Nan would say though. She would tell him the way to figure out the solution was to try, and when he succeeded he'd have found the solution.

 

“Doctor,” Ryan said.

 

“Yeah Ryan?” The Doctor's voice came to him filtered through the floor and the various bits and bobs beneath it she fiddled with.

 

“Can I ask you a question?”

 

“Su- Oops. I hope that's not important. I'm sure it isn't important. Go ahead Ryan.”

 

Ryan considered questioning what had just happened in the engine, but then decided he was better off not knowing. “So you're an alien, right? That's not offensive to ask is it?”

 

“Well technically we're all aliens everywhere but on our home planets,” the Doctor said.

 

“And where's that?”

 

“Where's wh- Ow! Why would you hurt me like that love? Are you cross with me?”

 

Ryan shook his head. He knew the Doctor said the TARDIS was alive, but he still found it strange the way she talked to it. “Are you okay? Want me to come down there?”

 

“It's a bit cramped,” she said. “But thanks.”

 

“No problem.” He waited to hear if the Doctor would pick up the thread of their conversation on her own. She didn't. “What planet are you from? Is it close by? Have we been there?”

 

“No,” she said, some of her levity faded.

 

“No what?”

 

“No, we haven't been there. No, we're never going to go there. No- Just no,” she said.

 

For a few minutes the Doctor worked in silence while Ryan processed that. “Why did you leave,” he asked at last, bracing himself against another potential blow up.

 

The Doctor began to climb out from under the floor. Ryan extended his hand to assist, and she took it with apparent gratitude. At first he thought she hadn't heard him, or at least was pretending not to have heard him. She began to fiddle with buttons on the console. Just as Ryan was about to repeat his question the Doctor began to speak in a voice so soft he had to strain to hear. “Do you remember what you did the day we first met, in the forest?”

 

Ryan frowned, thinking back. “When I found that Stenza thing,” he asked.

 

She turned around and faced him. Her face was lit up in a smile that Ryan couldn't begin to make heads or tails of. “Do you know what all children, of every species across the universe, hear growing up,” she asked.

 

“What?”

 

“Don't touch. You can look, but you can't touch. I hate those words. I hate them. My people, we mastered the art of temporal manipulation. We built machines that could transverse all of time and space. We could go anywhere! We could see anything!” The Doctor was gesticulating as she spoke, her smile as wide as he'd ever seen it, and her limbs shedding manic energy. “But we weren't permitted. Look, our laws said, but never ever touch. I wanted to touch it Ryan.”

 

Ryan nodded. He remembered now. He'd said that everyone else would have done the same thing he had, but only the Doctor had conceded she would. She had admitted it with a sort of pride even. “I get that,” he said.

 

“I ran away because I wanted to see the whole of the wide universe. I took my granddaughter with me because I wanted her to see it to. She was the only member of my family that I thought would be able to really appreciate it. We had such wonderful adventures Ryan. We had so much fun.”

 

From the hall they heard Graham's voice. He had come to stand in the doorway. He spoke not in an accusing tone, but a kind one. “And then what happened,” he asked the Doctor.

 

“A lot of things happened.”

 

“Was there an accident,” Graham pressed.

 

“Plenty of those,” the Doctor said.

 

“Doctor,” Ryan said. “We're your friends. You can tell us what happened. We won't judge.”

 

The Doctor laughed, but all of the joy had bled from her face. The laugh was mirthless and pale. “I went home. I fought in the war.”

 

“There was a war,” Ryan asked.

 

“Isn't there always,” the Doctor responded.

 

“Did you kill anyone,” Graham asked.

 

Ryan tensed. He couldn't imagine the Doctor, the anti-weapon, peace advocating Doctor killing anybody. “Yes,” she said. “I did.”

 

Graham nodded. “So that's why then? That's why you didn't want me to kill Tim Shaw, because you've done it, and you know what it does to a person,” he concluded.

 

“Yes,” the Doctor whispered.

 

“But if there was a war,” Ryan said. “Then it wasn't your fault. People kill in wars. You didn't have a choice,” Ryan told her.

 

“There is always a choice,” the Doctor said with great emphasis. “There may not be any good choices, but there is always a choice.”

 

“Your family…” Graham trailed off.

 

“They all fought, and they all died.”

 

“Even your granddaughter,” Ryan asked.

 

The Doctor put out her hand and brushed it against the engine. “I told her to stay on Earth where she would be safe, but she felt she had a duty to return home and fight. As far as I know her unit had no survivors,” she said.

 

Ryan tried to match up the tragic story he was hearing with his energetic, in a state of perpetual delight, friend, and found himself unable to do so. “You don't have any family?”

 

The Doctor closed her eyes. Her features twisted into an expression of pain, but a moment later her eyes opened and she offered him a weak smile. “Do you count?”

 

“Of course we do Doc,” Graham answered for them both without hesitation. “We love you.”

 

“Yeah,” Ryan agreed. “We're your fam.”

 

The Doctor chuckled. Without even giving himself time to think Ryan stepped forward and wrapped her in an embrace. The Doctor stiffened for a second, but then she melted into the hug. “Thank you,” she whispered.

 

Graham joined them and hugged them both, making the Doctor the center of a Russian nesting doll of hugs. “I don't want to cut short our beautiful moment,” Graham said. “But any chance the engine is operational yet?”

 

The Doctor grinned big enough for Ryan to feel it where her face was pressed into his shirt. “Oh yes,” she exclaimed as she broke apart from them. “There's every chance in the world that the engine is going to work, and do you want to know why,” she asked as she grabbed hold of a lever and beamed.

 

“Why,” Ryan asked with a knowing smile.

 

“Because I'm brilliant.” The Doctor pulled the lever down and chirped with delight as her Custard Creme emerged and the engine started to moan. “Next stop, Nile River!”

 

Ryan clapped. It seemed appropriate, and he thought the Doctor could use the pick me up after the grueling emotional confession she had just given. Graham hesitated, but then he gave in and clapped as well. “Well done.”

 

The Doctor walked towards the doors with purpose, munching on her biscuit. “What are you doing Doctor,” Ryan asked.

 

“Like I said, always a choice,” she told him in a normal tone of voice before turning to the door and shouting. “Oi! Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah! Are you out there,” she asked.

 

There was muttering and the sound of shuffling feet, but soon the sound of axes died down and the Caliph responded. “Are you going to surrender,” he demanded.

 

“Sure! Promise me you'll use the dam to end famine and protect your citizenry instead of to wipe your political dissidents off the map and I'll surrender! I'll leave and you won't see me again for the rest of your life!” She lowered her voice and turned to Ryan and Graham to make an aside. “He dies at the age of thirty-five, so I'll only have to avoid a small time frame in this region,” she explained.

 

“Oh yeah, because I was really worried about that,” Graham said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. “Us not being able to come back to Egypt soon was my main concern.”

 

The Doctor returned her attention to the door and the Caliph on the other side. “So what do you say?! Seem like a fair deal Caliph?!”

 

Ryan held his breath as he waited to see what the Caliph would say. The sound of hysterical laughter filtered into the TARDIS through the doors, which Ryan assumed was not a positive sign. “Come out now and your deaths will be swift! Linger inside your fortress and it will last days demons!”

 

“Demons,” Graham complained. “Why did he say demons? The Doc is the only one with a magic box. Ryan and I are just blokes.”

 

“I think that was a no Doctor,” Ryan said.

 

The Doctor sighed. “I had to try.”

 

Graham put a hand on her shoulder. “You did try Doc. You did the the right thing. You tried to find a solution that would help everyone.”

 

“Yeah,” Ryan agreed. “Whatever happens next is on him.” Ryan jerked his thumb towards the door. “Not on you,” he said.

 

The Doctor gave Ryan a weak smile that made his heart ache. He wanted to reach out and embrace her again, but she was already at the controls. “Right, we're off then.”

 

The Doctor yanked a lever and Ryan felt the tension in his muscles subside as the sound of furious men trying to invade their safe space and murder them vanished. He hadn't realized just how stressed out he had been until the source of his anxiety was no longer a factor. The Doctor threw open the doors with her standard dramatic flair to reveal the smooth untroubled surface of the river right outside the TARDIS. “Doc,” Graham said. “I think you took us to the wrong stretch of the Nile; there isn't any dam being built here.”

 

The Doctor stepped outside, and Graham and Ryan followed. Once they were outside the TARDIS with a better view of the surrounding area Ryan could see that they were without a doubt in the right place. He saw the same tents and equipment clustered by the shore as before. Ryan even recognized which tent was Hasan's, since it was the biggest. The bank of the river was unaltered, but the river itself was unrecognizable to Ryan. The drained section of the river where all the construction had been taking place was gone, and the Nile had returned to its natural state. Ryan saw fish and reptiles navigating the currents, but he didn't see any wooden walls or construction equipment in the water. He could almost believe he had imagined all of it.

 

“Doc…” Graham said.

 

The Doctor ran for Hasan's tent, and Ryan was right on her heels. All he could think about was Yaz and Tally. This construction site was the one place it made sense for the two of them to be, but it appeared to have been abandoned during their absence. If they weren't at the camp, Ryan had no idea where they might be. Against his will images rose in Ryan's mind similar to his fears from when he first saw the construction site. He imagined the walls breaking and water pouring in. This time however, his nightmarish daydream starred Yaz and Tally instead of himself, and they were the ones crushed by the tides. He shook his head and refused to entertain the macabre thoughts any further. The Doctor, Ryan and Graham entered the tent of the great genius. They found it empty. The art, the books, the prayer rugs, the furniture, everything was gone. There was no clue as to where the previous inhabitant might be.

 

“Doctor, what happened,” Ryan whispered in a fearful voice, dreading what she might say.

 

The Doctor didn't answer, instead kneeling down to pick up a small purple bead that Ryan recognized as identical to the ones that ended Tally's braids. It might have come off when the five of them were all in the tent together earlier, and therefore could have been meaningless, but it struck Ryan as ominous all the same. Ryan wished he could see the Doctor's face and get some clue as to what she might be thinking.

 

“Doc, where are Yaz and Tally,” Graham said.

 

Ryan closed his eyes, and all at once he prayed to every deity he'd ever heard of.


	7. Part Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's more discussion about religion in this chapter, so I'm gonna include a summary at the end if you want to skip it.

Yaz watched Tally experiment with pressing her trainers into the mud and then pulling them out with a loud obnoxious squelch at the last second before her shoes could be filled with mud. These antics of course meant the trainers were more or less ruined, but Yaz got the sense that Tally wasn't too concerned with the state of her clothing. The little girl grew bored with her shoes and began to hunt for interesting rocks. Yaz couldn't keep an indulgent smile off her face. “A hydraulic empire, total control over where the water goes and when it gets there.” Yaz looked away from Tally and back to Hasan, standing in front of the partially constructed support beam and explaining his project. “My vision was to have dams built outside every major city. In the flood season the dams would hold back the water and prevent homes from being destroyed. During drought water would be redirected from well-irrigated areas to the ones with dying crops. This is modernization!”

 

Yaz felt her smile growing. Hasan's pride in his work was just as endearing as Tally's childish exploration. She found pride welling up in her that these were the kinds of contributions her ancestors had given to the world. She couldn't indulge in her satisfaction forever though. There were questions that needed answers. “When did you first suspect the Caliph had other plans for your work?”

 

Hasan frowned. He ran his fingers through his beard. “It was not long ago. A vizier came to see me. He asked strange questions. At first I thought he was concerned with our safety precautions, but as his inquiry went on it seemed more like he wanted to know if we could cause a flood in Aswan on purpose, rather than by accident.” Hasan looked up towards the river. A quartet of Hasans all standing on each other's shoulders wouldn't be tall enough to reach the top. Yaz had never thought about just how deep the river was before. She wondered how much damage that amount of water could do.

 

“Why would the Caliph want to kill his own people,” Yaz asked. “Entire cities of them?”

 

Hasan shook his head. “The Fatimid Caliphate has always been a place of peace and tolerance. Although this is a majority Muslim society the Caliphate accepts Jews and Christians as citizens. The former Caliph even had a Christian wife, and that is where the trouble began,” Hasan explained.

 

“Was she the current Caliph's mother?”

 

“He claims not. He says he is the son of his father's other, Muslim, wife. But any ruler will have enemies, and those enemies will spread rumors.” Hasan shrugged. “An older, wiser man would pay no heed, and focus on being a just and competent leader. This Caliph is young, too young I would say. He reacts to these taunts of his possible Christian heritage by removing Christians from government positions, executing Christians and even destroying churches. Of course this doesn't dispel the rumors. All his actions have done is make him new enemies among those that enjoy and profit from the peace which has always been the status quo until now.” Hasan sighed. “Generations of peaceful rulers, but one foolish boy is enough to undo it all.” He reached out and touched the wall. Yaz contemplated if he could feel the power on the other side. She wondered if he felt it inspiring, terrifying or, as she did, both.

 

“He wants to use your work to kill people.”

 

“Yes,” Hasan agreed. “I believe so. I have worked so hard. I have studied and toiled away on this project. Is it right that all my efforts should come to naught because of the malicious plans of a spoiled child?”

 

“No,” Yaz said with sympathy. “It isn't right or fair, but you are obligated to do what it takes to save lives, even if your legacy must suffer in the process. I'm sorry,” she commiserated.

 

Hasan nodded. “That is exactly what a good Muslim woman would say. No good Muslim man would be able to disagree with her.”

 

“If you destroy the dam will the Caliph or his engineers be able to copy it,” Yaz asked, already thinking several steps ahead.

 

Hasan laughed and shook his head. “They would need a considerable level of brilliance, which they are in no means in possession of.”

 

“Good,” Yaz said. “Let's get to work.”

 

Hasan smiled at Yaz before making his way over to the rope ladder. “Child, it is time for us to return to land, and for the water to return to its home as well. We are built to walk upon the Earth. Let this belong to the fish.”

 

Tally ran over. She had mud all over her trainers, pants, hands, arms and face, but somehow the jersey had been spared. “I like you, you're neat,” she said. With a face overcome by delight she started to climb up the ladder back to the boat.

 

Hasan chuckled and gestured for Yaz to follow after her. The three of them made their way back to shore. Once there Yaz was astounded by Hasan's efficiency. He ordered the workers to begin taking apart his masterpiece bit by bit, an act which was no doubt painful for him, but one he managed to complete with a smile on his face. Yaz and Tally got to work destroying the designs for Hasan's miraculous hydraulic empire. It made her melancholy to see hours of Hasan's life and many of his dreams curl up and turn into smoke, but she knew the alternative was much worse. So the three of them labored away, and in a matter of hours the camp was packed up and walls had been weakened enough that they splintered and broke apart under the force of the currents. Yaz watched the Nile destroy the dam that never got to be a dam with both sorrow and relief. A crocodile slid into the water and swam away, while a heron flapped its wings and took flight, sights which filled Yaz with a sense of rightness and contentment. She pulled Tally close for a hug.

 

“Well then,” Hasan said as the last of his possessions were piled into a cart. “Off to Aswan to rescue your friends I suppose.”

 

“You're coming too, right,” Tally asked.

 

Hasan's warm genial laughter filled the sweet cool air. “I can't very well leave you two on your own. Come along. Into the cart,” he said.

 

Yaz lifted Tally up and placed her in the cart with a warning not to get mud all over Hasan's prayer rugs. Yaz climbed in after her, and Hasan was last, settling into a comfortable position before instructing the driver to set out. He looked at the river for a long time, and Yaz let the solemnity of the moment exist in silence, observed but uncommented upon. Well she tried to at least, but then she remembered who she was traveling with. “I'm sorry genius man,” Tally told Hasan. “Your water empire would have been great. Maybe you can build another one somewhere else without an evil king?”

 

“Caliph,” Yaz corrected.

 

Hasan gave Tally a fond smile. “I think I have had my fill of engineering for a while. I might turn to other pursuits. I have been musing on the topic of sight for a while. We all know that what is hidden in darkness is visible in the light, but have you ever questioned why?”

 

“Because we can't see in the dark,” Tally said

 

“But why can't you see in the dark child?”

 

Tally pondered this as though it were a very serious question. “I dunno,” she said. “Why?”

 

“I have a theory that light is the only thing our eyes can see. When we perceive objects we don't see them, not truly. Instead we see the light bouncing off of the objects, which creates the illusion of vision,” Hasan said.

 

Tally considered this, biting her lip in concentration. Yaz had to force herself not to laugh, as she knew Tally would take offense rather than realize the laughter was a symptom of endearment. “So I'm not seeing you, I'm just seeing light bounce off you?”

 

“That is my theory,” Hasan said with a smile of approval. “You are a good student.”

 

Hasan taught Tally and Yaz all about mathematics and physics on their way to Aswan. Yaz was surprised by how much she enjoyed the conversation. She had always performed well in those topics at school, but they had never captivated her before the way they did when talking to Hasan. Yaz enjoyed herself so much she was shocked when they arrived at Aswan after what felt like a few minutes of travel. Of course she knew all the topics they'd covered must have taken much longer than that. Yaz helped Tally down from the cart as Hasan instructed the driver to transport his things to his lodgings.

 

“Food!” Tally took off running before Yaz could catch her or warn her to stay close.

 

Yaz chased after Tally as she went up to a man selling falafel. “Can I try that?”

 

“Tally,” Yaz reprimanded. “Sorry,” she told the vendor. “Kids these days, you know?”

 

The man laughed and then handed over half a dozen falafel inside a pocket of pita bread to Tally. “You look hungry child. You appear to have had an active day,” he told her.

 

She took the food with eager delight and began to stuff her face. “I have,” she said around a mouthful of fried lentils.

 

“Tally don't talk with your mouth full of food.”

 

“Sorry,” Tally said with her mouth still full of food. She took another large bite.

 

The vendor laughed again and then turned his attention to his other customers. Yaz took Tally's hand and led her back to where Hasan had been. While Yaz had been with Tally he seemed to have vanished. “Where did he-”

 

Hasan emerged from the crowd carrying a stack of clothing, which he dropped into Yaz's arms without ceremony. “We stand a better chance of recovering your friends if we are not quite so conspicuous. The child might also be in need of a bath,” Hasan suggested.

 

“Then can we get more food,” Tally asked.

 

Yaz smiled at Hasan. “Thank you. I wish I had a way to pay you back,” she told him.

 

Hasan waved her concerns away. “It is I who am in your debt. You helped me to see the truth I didn't want to accept. God himself sent you into my life, and I thank Him for it.”

 

Yaz felt a delightful warmth filling her up body and soul. She took Tally's hand and followed Hasan down the crowded streets. They were distracted twice, once for ostrich eggs that Tally had to have and Yaz admitted were quite good, and once for a basket of dates that were very refreshing. Yaz was worried about the Doctor, Ryan and Graham, but she was also certain that she would find them and rescue them if needed. Yaz was full of confidence from her success at the river and joy from being acknowledged and appreciated for her abilities. This was what she loved about traveling with the Doctor, and why her life back at home paled in comparison to her adventures. In Sheffield she was an overeager trainee with inappropriate ambition. With the Doctor, in the TARDIS, she felt like she was so much more than she had ever been, and she never wanted to give it up. Yaz knew the Doctor and her friends would be alright until she found them because she couldn't imagine her world ever going back to the way it had been before. She was going to travel with the Doctor forever. The second Yaz found her that would be the first thing she said: 'Doctor, I'm going to travel with you forever.’ The idea felt so right, and so very good. Yaz looked up at the sun and smiled, confident and ready for whatever was going to happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tl;Dr: Yaz helps Hasan decide to destroy the dam and then he takes them to Aswan to look for the Doctor, Ryan and Graham.


	8. Part Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The notes at the end are kind of long, but if you made it this far I'd really appreciate if you read them.

The Doctor rolled the bead around in her hand and then got to her feet. She turned around to face her friends. Their faces were consumed with fear and worry. “I told you that history says this project was abandoned.”

 

“Yeah, but where are Yaz and Tally,” Graham asked. “I'm a bit more concerned about that.”

 

“Hasan Ibn al-Haytham, not just a genius, but a philosopher as well. He didn't give up the project because it was impossible to finish.”

 

“Doc,” Graham said. “I'm starting to get concerned. Actually, I think I already am.”

 

“He destroyed the dam. I didn't need to do anything. I didn't even need to be here. He took care of it all on his own.” The Doctor felt some of the everpresent tension that always hung around her neck lessen as she realized that for once the world would have kept turning without her interference. It didn't all rest on her shoulders. Someone else had saved the day, and she was just a witness.

 

“But-” Ryan started.

 

The Doctor pocketed the bead. “C'mon fam, back to Aswan. I hope the TARDIS doesn't get upset with me about two short trips in a row. She doesn't like small hops as a general rule,” the Doctor explained.

 

“You still haven't explained what happened to Yaz and Tally,” Graham said. But he spoke with a resigned voice, and she heard his and Ryan's footsteps as they followed her.

 

The Doctor played with a few dials and then pulled the lever, earning herself another biscuit, which made her assume that the TARDIS couldn't be too angry, despite all that she had been through during the course of the day. The Doctor did some happy munching while Graham and Ryan continued to ask questions. The TARDIS arrived in the same city she had just left, though of course not the same precise location, as that would have been aggravating for everyone. The Doctor bounded out the doors and spread her arms wide, face tilted up to the sun and soaking in solar energy. She took a deep inhalation and sniffed the sweet smell of food, manure and sweat. The Doctor had found those smells were the perfect combination for a functional society. “Isn't it beautiful?”

 

“We just saw it not too long ago,” Ryan reminded the Doctor. “When we were being marched through as prisoners, remember?”

 

“But did you look at it? I mean did you really look at it? This, this is what I wanted to see when I left home.” The Doctor ran up to a building and ran her smooth fingers down the rough brick. “Feel the rich soil beneath your feet,” the Doctor said. “Listen to all of the beautiful voices.” The Doctor was tempted to take off her boots and turn off the TARDIS translation circuits so she could feel and hear the truth of Aswan without any barriers between her and the soul of the beautiful thriving city. “You can taste the salts and fats in the air. Beans and bread and fish and grapes and honey. Look at all the gorgeous clothes and hairstyles. Listen to the sound of music and dancing. We're here! We exist in this moment as we never will again.”

 

“Doc-” Graham started.

 

The Doctor put up her hand. “Just savor it.”

 

“Doctor, this is all grand,” Ryan said. “But I'm starting to get really worried about Yaz and-”

 

“Doc-Tor!” The sound of slippers hitting packed dirt and beads clacking together grabbed their attention. The Doctor turned around just in time to catch Tally as she ran up to and leaped at the Doctor. The Doctor hugged her. “Check out my new clothes!”

 

The Doctor looked at the smoke colored cloak and soft slippers. “You look brilliant.”

 

“Thanks!” Tally hugged her tighter.

 

Hasan and Yaz caught up with them. Yaz had a scarf wrapped around her head and was carrying a full cloth bag. Yaz started laughing as she took in the sight of them. “Here we were making this big complex plan for how we'd break you out of prison, and now you're right in front of us,” she said with delight.

 

“You want us to go get arrested again so you can try out your big plan,” Ryan asked.

 

“Oh hush.” Yaz dropped her bag and ran forward to hug Graham and Ryan. When the Doctor put Tally down so she could greet Ryan and Graham Yaz turned her attention to the Doctor. Yaz enveloped the Doctor in a tight embrace. “I knew you would protect them,” Yaz told her. “Hasan chose to destroy the dam. History is safe,” she added.

 

“It always was,” the Doctor agreed. “Are you enjoying Aswan? I like your outfits.” The Doctor sniffed Yaz's cheek. “You smell like honey and wheat,” she accused.

 

“Eating helps with planning,” Yaz suggested.

 

“You got lunch without us,” Graham demanded in a faux outrage. “Ta very much for that Yaz. I'm going to remember this!”

 

Tally reached into the folds of her cloak for a piece of cloth. She unraveled it to reveal some sort of poultry, which she held out in offering to Graham. “I saved some leftovers.”

 

“That's alright Tally, you eat up,” Graham assured the child. “I’m just having a go.”

 

“Oh good, because I'm starved.” Tally proceeded to dig into her drumsticks.

 

“How can you still be hungry,” Yaz asked.

 

“I'm growing,” Tally said through the pulverized poultry. “I need energy.”

 

“What happens next,” Hasan asked. “Where will you go? This empire is not safe for you as long as the Caliph lives,” Hasan said.

 

“No worries mate,” Ryan said. “We're headed out of town. But what about you? Are you going back to Iraq,” he inquired.

 

Hasan shook his head. “No. I think I should stay and keep an eye on things. I will tell the Caliph the design for the hydraulic system was flawed and that the currents washed away all of our work. In a sense none of that is a lie. My designs were flawless, but his were full of spite and cruelty. I will return with the Caliph to Cairo, and perhaps take a bureaucratic positive, something not taxing that will leave me time to work on my book.”

 

The Doctor straightened. “Your book! All of you wait here.” She ran into the TARDIS, racing through the first door that appeared in the hall, certain the TARDIS knew what she wanted. The Doctor picked up her copy of  _ Book of Optics  _ and then rushed back out onto the busy street. She held the book out to Hasan. “Will you sign this for me? But don't look inside. We don't want any paradoxes.”

 

Hasan lifted the book out of her hands as though it were some precious thing, a newborn infant or a delicate flower. “This is my legacy then? This is how I will be remembered.” He looked as though he might burst into tears at any moment. “You really are from the future.” He shook his head and ran his hand along the cover of the book.

 

“Yeah, trippy huh,” Ryan asked.

 

“Pen!” The Doctor sifted through her many pockets until she found a ball point pen to offer Hasan. “This is huge for me by the way.”

 

Hasan grinned as he signed the book with beautiful Arabic script. He didn't even attempt to peak, which intensified the Doctor's respect for him. “Thank you,” Hasan said as he returned the book. “You have all given me a precious gift. To know that the people of the future will be so virtuous and noble, and that I will be remembered well among them fills my heart with such gladness. I thought, when I found out my work needed to be destroyed, that I was being punished for my vanity, but now I see that I have been rewarded for my piety instead. May God bless you and all of your endeavors,” Hasan enthused.

 

The Doctor took back her book and grinned with such happiness and delight she felt her chest might burst. She saw that Yaz was mirroring her expression as she passed her own blessings to Hasan. Graham and Ryan both shook his hand, and Tally tried to give him a hug before Yaz stopped her, so she just settled for a wave. The Doctor found that she wanted to stay in Aswan. She wanted to go sailing on the Nile and try some of the delicious cuisine she had smelled on Yaz's breath when she hugged her. But she knew it was time for them to leave. At least they could return any year after 1021. Maybe they would one day. She could check in on Hasan and wander about the streets of Cairo with a light heart. So it was with little pain and great joy that the Doctor ushered her companions back onto the TARDIS. She stuck her head out the door for a last parting glance at Hasan, and the two of them exchanged a knowing smile between geniuses.

 

“How do you all fit in there?”

 

“I told you I was an engineering expert.” She waved and then returned inside. She took her book back to the library before doing anything else so it wouldn't get damaged. Then she returned to the control room.

 

“Doctor,” Yaz said. “If we dematerialize right here on the street, won't people notice?”

 

“No worries! I fixed the perception filter. The only people who will see us are the ones who know we're here. That's just Hasan. I hope he gets a kick out of this.” She grabbed a lever.

 

“Where do we go next,” Tally asked, vibrating with excitement. “Can we see dinosaurs?”

 

“Next we're taking you home,” Graham said in a kind but firm voice. “We'll have to hope your mum and dad aren't too furious with us.”

 

“What?! No way! I only got one trip!”

 

“Yeah, and that's one more than you should have kiddo,” Graham said. “We're taking you back to 2019 where you'll be safe.”

 

“But-!” Tally ran up to the Doctor and grabbed onto her coat sleeve. “Can't we go on just one more trip? Please, oh please, oh please!”

 

The Doctor saw the same eagerness for adventure, the same innocent and unbridled curiosity, in Tally's eyes that she had seen in Susan's when she'd offered to take her granddaughter traveling. “Well I suppose-”

 

“No!” Graham's voice had lost its kindness and become just firm. “Doc, I need you to listen to me. I love traveling with you. I think it's one of the best decisions I ever made to get on this ship with you, right up there with asking Grace out on our first date.” His harsh tone of voice undercut the meaning of each kind word. “You’ve become one of my best friends Doc, but if you don't take Tallulah back to her family where she belongs then you and I are done. This is kidnapping, and I will not be party to it.” The Doctor felt Tallulah holding tight onto her arm and squished up against her side. The little girl looked almost afraid of Graham, which the Doctor recognized in the back of her mind as a gross unfairness. Of all the people on the TARDIS Graham was the one most concerned for Tallulah's safety. He was being the responsible adult the Doctor knew she was supposed to be. “So you either take her home or you take me home,” Graham said.

 

“Grandad's right,” Ryan said in a low hesitant voice. “I like Tallulah too, but she needs to be with her family Doctor. I think you know that.”

 

“But the Doctor IS a part of my family!” Tally stomped her foot. “I've known about the Doctor for my entire life! That's more than any of you can say,” she huffed with a scowl.

 

The Doctor looked over at Yaz and saw a war on her features. The Doctor knew Yaz would speak up soon, and the Doctor was ashamed to have put her in such a position that no matter what Yaz said they would both be disappointed in her. The Doctor didn't wait to hear what Yaz's response would be. She got down on one knee and took hold of Tallulah's sticky hands. “I am a part of your family, and I always will be, but I don't have the right to rob you of your childhood dear heart,” she said.

 

“But I WANT to go with you.”

 

The Doctor chuckled. “I know. But you deserve better than one more trip,” the Doctor said, thinking of that fateful conversation with Martha all those years ago in her tiny flat. “You're a kid Tallulah, and you deserve the chance to be a kid. You deserve to live in a safe warm home where there's always food if you're hungry and you never have to worry about peril or hardship.”

 

“But I don't care about those things! I want to see the stars. Can't you show me just one?”

 

The Doctor pulled out a handkerchief and wiped away a glob of grease from Tally's wobbling lip. “I'll show them all to you when you're old enough to make an informed decision about risks to your well-being.”

 

“I'm not just a dumb kid,” Tally said, but the fight was starting to leak out of her voice.

 

“No, you're a very smart kid, but you are still a kid. You need to spend your childhood with your parents. I can't steal that from them.”

 

Tally sighed with as much melodrama as possible, but the Doctor knew she was ready to go home and curl up in the warmth and safety of her parents’ love, even if she would never admit it. “Fine,” she muttered.

 

The Doctor kissed the top of her head. “So what's Martha's address these days?”

 

Tally mumbled the answer, but the Doctor heard her clear enough. As she set their course Tally shuffled her feet. “When will I be old enough to come back,” she asked.

 

“I dunno.” The Doctor tried to remember the major age milestones for humans. “Sixteen?”

 

“Eighteen,” Graham said.

 

“Seventeen,” Tally argued.

 

The Doctor looked at Yaz, who nodded in approval, which was enough for her. “I'll take you on a trip for your seventeenth birthday.”

 

“Do you promise?”

 

“I do,” the Doctor swore. “What day were you born on,” she asked.

 

“May 18, 2010,” she answered.

 

The Doctor took Tally's hand and led her to the TARDIS doors. “I will see you on May 18, 2027,” she promised. “Let's meet… We'll meet outside Big Ben. What do you say?”

 

Tally hugged her again. “I'll be there. Are you going to come inside and say hi,” she asked.

 

“Of course. I'm right behind you.”

 

Tally beamed up at her before rushing out the TARDIS and up to her front door. She pulled a key, not the TARDIS key but a regular old Earth key, out of her pocket and let herself into her house. “Mum! Dad! You'll NEVER guess where I've been!”

 

The Doctor let a sad smile claim her face as she shut the doors and returned to the TARDIS controls. “Aren't you going to go say hello to your friends Doctor,” Ryan asked.

 

“And explain what went on,” Graham added.

 

The Doctor shook her head. “There's a lot of stuff Mickey and Martha probably want to say to me. They have a lot to process right now as it is. I'll come back later, when I can account for myself and my actions. In the meantime,” she began her last statement by shifting her tone from contemplating to exuberant. “Who wants to see the giant ocean butterflies of the great glass sea?”

 

The Doctor didn't wait for an answer. She pulled the lever and sent the four of them whirling through space and time. She didn't even notice that the TARDIS failed to reward her with a biscuit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! Well that's over. This was a very labor intensive installment of the series. Hasan Ibn al-Haytham is a real person, who did write the Book of Optics, the first major optometry text ever written. He was one of the first major proponents of the scientific method and just an all around great guy. If he were white there would have been a fifth ninja turtle named after him. His hydraulic empire project was real, and it was abandoned for being impractical. The Caliph in this story was also a real person, and the portrayal and backstories of these characters was as authentic as possible. As you can see, I put a lot of effort into this story, so I would really appreciate any comments.
> 
> Still intrigued? Want to know why the Doctor's psychic paper went on the fritz? Why is Yaz in Martha's family photos? Wondering what other components there are to Krasko's conspiracy? Well stay tuned! Next week will bring you Happy Birthday, which takes place in 1966 during England's first world cup win. Thanks for sticking with this story. (Pssst. Please comment.)


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